Where am I?

Sheffield...Leicester...Papworth...Cambridge. Yes, Cambridge now. Been a busy day.

I'll post some pictures of the COQ's expedition to Tarragona last weekend once I can get the camera connected to a computer. Update - here's some pics of two of Tarragona's finest performance spaces. The Roman amphitheatre, two thousand years old, in a splendid setting overlooking the Mediterranean. And the concert hall of the Fundació La Caixa, where the Chuckerbutties are limbering up for the evening show. Bread and crumhorns should keep the crowds happy.


Tomorrow Cambridge...Stansted...Finchley.

Smooth ride

It was Fearnley's birthday in July, and after due consideration a decision has been reached about the preferred present. The synthesiser and the drum kit remain on the wish list, but he is now the proud owner of a new VTT bike with sturdy front and rear suspension and disk brakes. Just what's needed for bumping up and down hills and over exposed roots in our woods.

Tomorrow I head for Tarragona for a Chuckerbutty Ocarina Quartet concert, then Sheffield on Tuesday with Sambuca, then the rest of the family follows to England for half-term hols and cousin Clare's wedding on Saturday. Should be fun.

Radio Star

At short notice today I got the call to be a Radio Star. BBC Radio 5 Live were going to run a piece on Sting's new CD and wanted to interview someone about it.

Moi? (as Miss Piggy used to say). Well, the new CD is of lute songs by John Dowland, which is not Sting's normal territory. And, even more improbably, it has gone straight into the charts at number 24. That's the real charts, not the classical charts, where it stands at number 1. On the alternative measure of amazon.co.uk sales, Sting's CD stands at number 9. The next highest lute CD, Nigel North's solo Dowland volume 1 on Naxos (highly recommended, by the way), stands at a surprisingly respectable 1,767. After that, lute CDs quickly plummet to around number 30,000.

So that means a load of people hearing the lute for the first time. Fortunately Sting has taken the precaution of engaging a proper lutenist, Edin Karamazov, for the album. Sting sings the songs - though he has learnt the lute for the project and plays a duet on one track.

As he is the first to admit, Sting is not a trained singer. So standard notions of breath control and purity of tone go completely out of the window (or Go from my Window - sorry, that's a lutenists' in-joke). Instead he approaches the songs with a refreshing emphasis on the text and the story - unrefined but sincere. And very brave for someone who is used to being able to hide behind massive studio post-production.

The classical music public will flock not to buy this CD. But if it raises awareness of the lute and John Dowland among the other 97% of the population, that can only be a good thing.

Oh yes, the radio. I got 60 seconds just before the news, and faced challenging questions like "So, it's a bit like an old guitar then?" and "Can you play rock and roll on it?". Next time I will insist on Radio 4.

Travellers' tales

An early start for Lowri, to drive her parents to Carcassonne airport for their journey home. The mornings are dark now. We are an hour ahead of UK time but only 2 degrees east of Greenwich, and still on summer time.

A wasted effort, as it turns out, because their flight was cancelled. The incoming plane swooped tauntingly down towards Carcassonne airport, then lifted up again without landing and headed off to Perpignan instead. Problems with the weather. Nine hours to wait until the next flight. Ggggggrrrrrr. Luckily Ryanair is still on its summer timetable, so at least there was a next flight. The winter timetable has only one flight a day, and then not every day. The threads connecting us to England are tenuous.

Neil spent most of the visit labouring magnificently in the garden, chopping down dead trees, pruning old roses, digging beds, and finishing with an all-day bonfire. The perfect guest.



Meanwhile, today was Herne's eighth birthday. Top present was the long-coveted Beckham football shirt. We had some lively classmates round for tea who rushed around the house blowing squeakers, playing darts and fighting. Huge fun all round.

Gee up

Philomena went on her first horse ride today. Manga lives in the field just down the road and came to the house to fetch her. They went out for about half an hour - terrifying but thrilling.

The Curse of Seaview

Back from England yesterday. The queues at Stansted have disappeared. What's going on? Lowri's parents travelled with me and are now visiting for a few days.

As usual, I was struck by the Curse of Seaview while staying at Michael's house in Cambridge, and woke up on my first morning feeling absolutely lousy. Michael assured me that we'd only drunk a modest amount of wine the previous evening, but I'm not convinced.

Following my lunchtime recital, I did a workshop on baroque guitar for the music students at Anglia Ruskin University (attendance compulsory). The course director, an enthusiast actually, briefed me by explaining:

a) that Friday afternoon was the 'graveyard slot' with everybody keen to get away for the weekend, and no-one would mind a bit if I finished early
b) the music technology students had never even heard of Handel and would have no idea what I was talking about.

In fact they all knew about modern guitars, the music technologists more than most. So it was easy to make that connection, and everyone seemed to be bright and interested and enjoyed the presentation. A couple of the students played some Corelli with me on violin, cello and guitar. Afterwards, an unlikely-looking electric guitarist enthused to me about how cool Corelli was, how he'd been playing the solo violin parts on guitar, and where could he buy nylgut strings from?

Airport runs

Lots of travelling ....

Lowri's just back from England
I'm going there today to play a concert in Cambridge on Friday
Then I come back on Saturday with Lowri's parents...
... who return home on the 12th
Then Lowri goes to England on the 15th for a few days
Then when she's back I go to Spain on the 21st for a concert with the Chuckerbutty Ocarina Quartet
Then I go directly to England for a concert with Sambuca in Sheffield
Then the rest of the family comes to England for cousin Clare's wedding and half-term holidays, during which we drive all over the place
Then they go back to France and I go to Ibiza for another concert with the COQ
Then I return to the UK and then to France
Then - oh, that's enough for now. That takes us up to early November. Another instalment later.

I am reading David Ruelle's Hasard et Chaos at the moment but it's a bit heavy, in more senses than one, to take on the plane with me. So I am going to take Jules Verne's Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours instead, to remind me of how travelling used to be.

Prussia Cove

Lowri arrived back yesterday from Prussia Cove in Cornwall, where she was playing chamber music all last week. The house is in a fabulous setting, up on the cliffs looking out to sea. For many years it has been the home of the International Musicians' Seminar, founded by the Hungarian violinist Sandor Végh.

Lowri used to go on courses there when she was a student. Not much has changed since then except that they now have an internet connection, so the house is less cut off from the world than it used to be. If you care to switch on the computer, that is.